Newbie here

[birdmove]

Just joined up to learn from you owners all about the GZ250. I'm a 53 year old rider with about 45 years of riding time behind me. I have a couple of larger motorcycles now. My wife, since we got her a 2005 Honda Metro scooter, no longer is inerested in riding on the back. We're going to ger her a larger, probably 250cc, scooter pretty soon now. I want a smaller, very fuel efficient motorcycle. I'll keep one of my larger bikes too. I now have a nice, easy, 15 mile round trip commute on backroads with speed limits of 35-45 mph, so I don't need a big bike for that. We plan on riding together, her on her 250 scooter, so a smaller motorcycle would be fine for that also. We will do mostly backroads here in the Pacific NW not far from Mount Rainier. We'll do some overnighters, and longer during vacations and such too.
One of the bikes I am thinking of getting is the GZ250. I like the relativeley large gas tank and ease of maintenance of the single cylinder air-cooled engine. I am thinking the valves are screw adjustable probably??
I should mention that I'm about 5'10" and 172 pounds.
I have a few questions about this bike:
1.What are you getting in mpg for gas mileage?
2.Do you think I'm too big for this bike? Are there people my size and bigger riding the GZ250?
3.Hows the reliability? I read somewhere that one owner has over 45,000 miles on his GZ.
4.Any known weakneses or well known problems?

Thank you for any comments,
Jon in Puyallup, Wa.

[davidc83]

I am 5' 10" and 180 lbs. you are not too big
I ride two lane highways, country roads, and rarely-Interstates at 70-75 mph
I average about 75mpg depending on roads, speeds traveled
Check out the 10,000 mile bike trek Patrick Henry performed on his gz250 at http://home.comcast.net/~pat1776/Alaska05/.
He averaged over 500 miles per day for 19 days.

I adjusted my chain in less than 5 minutes, changed oil filter and oil in less than 10 minutes, changed air filter in less than 5 minutes.

Maintenance is easy, and somewhere on this site you can find the service manual with easy to read, easy to understand directions with pictures.

[Dupo]

1. mpg averages around 60-70mph for these bikes
2. Only you can decide if you are too big for the bike. Best suggestion i can give you is go to a dealer and sit on one. See if you are comfortable on it.
3. These are highly reliable bikes. But as with any motorcycle - you take care of it; it takes care of you.
4. None that we have seen a pattern with.

Welcome to the forum. Any other questions .. fire away!

[Badbob]

I'm 5'11'' 218lbs .

I ride to work. most days year round and have put almost 16000 miles on my GZ250.

I post gas millage for both our bikes here. http://tinyurl.com/yputfu

Serch is your friens.

[Badbob]

I'm 5'11'' 218lbs .

I ride to work. most days year round and have put almost 16000 miles on my GZ250.

I post gas millage for both our bikes here. http://tinyurl.com/yputfu

Search is your friend.

[Bill]

I don't see where size is a concern here although I would think much taller would not be as comfortable. I have to defer to the other members since the GZ250 belongs to my wife - I just have the pleasure of maintaining it and keeping it clean. Really easy to do. I would ride one but at 6'1" and size 12 feet the frame is just a little small for my comfort. The milage has been averaging about 75 sometimes a little better. I think it is the best bike in its class on the market. For the kind of riding you plan to do with your wife it would be ideal. Easy, stable and quick to handle. I bet your wife would eventually claim it for herself or is that your plan? :2tup:

Cheers!

[birdmove]

No, my wife has made it plain she doesn't want anything to do with clutches and shifting. And I belive it since I treid to teach her how to drive a manual trans car many years ago. I finally gave up and traded cars with her. I'm a long time rider that can have fun riding just about any motorcycle.
I once had a 1990 Geo Metro 5 speed hatchback with the little 3 cylinder engine. That car averaged 54mpg! I drove it for 160,000 miles and had one muffler rust out-that was the only problem. I changed oil and did tuneups. It still had the original clutch and front brake pads-and they were still fine. They don't make them anymore-they'd be selling big time right now.
I've taken trips on big motorcycles, and small one too. Its all good. My wife and I will have the time of our lives riding 250s. I'll keep one of my big bikes too.

Thanks for the comments, Jon.